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Their appearances are thrilling … their predicament, alarming. Get the latest about our local orcas next Thursday when The Whale Trail‘s first Orca Talk of the season features NOAA Fisheries’ Lynne Barre talking about “Endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales: Species in the Spotlight.” Tickets are available now for the 7 pm December 15th event at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor).

Last year NOAA Fisheries launched the Species in the Spotlight initiative focused on stabilizing the populations of eight endangered species at very high risk of extinction. Southern Residents are one of the Species in the Spotlight.

With this effort NOAA is marshaling resources and focusing on partnerships to turn around the decline towards extinction and support conservation of endangered species. Lynne will highlight some recent recovery and conservation efforts for Southern Resident killer whales called for in the Species in the Spotlight Action Plan.

This is the first of the 2016/17 Orca Talk series hosted by The Whale Trail in West Seattle, with help from Seal Sitters. Join us to celebrate the seasonal return of the orcas to local waters, and do some holiday shopping too!

Buy tickets now to reserve your seat. And hurry! This will likely sell out.

Speaker Lynne Barre is the Branch Chief for Marine Mammals and Puget Sound Species for NOAAs Protected Resources division in Seattle. She has been with the agency for more than 15 years, implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act. Since 2003 she has worked on the endangered listing of the Southern Resident Killer Whales, designated critical habitat, developed and finalized a recovery plan, and implemented actions to conserve and recover the whales. As part of the recovery program, she developed an oil -spill response plan and protective regulations for killer whales in Washington.

In case you haven’t seen it yet in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, tomorrow’s the big day/night – the Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship makes three stops in West Seattle (3:25 pm at Lowman Beach, 4:10 pm at Alki Beach Park, 9:05 pm at Salty’s [WSB sponsor]). And when it visits Alki, there’s lots of holiday fun in addition to the shipboard Dickens Carolers serenading those on shore and on board. Just got this from Therese:

Family fun at Alki Bathhouse tomorrow Saturday 12/10! Live music including sing-along caroling combined with the Argosy Cruise Christmas Ship, and beverages and treats provided by Alki Community Center/Seattle Parks Department. Here’s the schedule:

This summer we announced that our West Seattle location will be redeveloped and, as a result, temporarily close in early 2017. We’re pleased to share that, based on the current development schedule, the store will remain open into May 2017.

We’re happy that we could be part of the holiday season this year with the West Seattle community, and will provide more details on timing of the closure as they solidify.

PCC is and will continue to be a tenant at 2749 California SW in The Admiral District; the site was bought by Madison Development Group, which is planning a four-story building with 110+ apartments. The project passed the first phase of Design Review three months ago and has at least one more review meeting to go, no date set yet.

Thanks to Mel for the photo of her kids Daizha and Bryson with their snowperson in Highland Park. We have a few other snow-day photos interspersed with our Friday preview here – first, highlights from the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide:

SEE SANTA AT HOMESTREET BANK: HomeStreet Bank(WSB sponsor) “is throwing a Holiday Celebration at its West Seattle branch where photos with Santa are complimentary with a donation to the West Seattle Food Bank. Hot cider and cookies will be served.” 3-6 pm. “HomeStreet welcomes locals to come say hello to Santa and celebrate in the holiday season. Bank representatives are available at your request for questions or interviews.” (4022 SW Alaska)

LIGHT SHOW: Holiday light show tonight at 7 pm at Ounces in North Delridge. (3809 Delridge Way SW)

(Snowy Alki! Photo by Paul Walchenbach)

POSADA NAVIDENA: You are invited to celebrate at the Posada Navideña at Denny International Middle School, 6:30 pm: “Fun-filled cultural night with food, music from Banda Vagos, and cultural activities.” All welcome; free. (2601 SW Kenyon)

To say that emotions ran high at last night’s meeting about the city’s plan for an authorized encampment on Myers Way is an understatement.

Led by George Scarola, the city’s director of homelessness, the meeting included an invited group of about 40 concerned neighborhood advocates, and escalated into raised voices and statements of clear dissatisfaction with the city, one week after Mayor Murray’s announcement of three new encampments around the city, including this one.

In an overview of the homeless problem citywide, Scarola said there were 3,000 unsheltered people on the streets of Seattle as he spoke, and even more if you counted those in shelters. Countywide, he said 10,000 are homeless, 4,500 of those unsheltered. “Something different is happening,” he said of the problem. “It’s a phenomenon that has become common.”

The city’s plan, he said, is to get homeless people only what they need as fast as possible – not a “Cadillac” but to get them sheltered. The city is working with various non-profit organizations to become more effective in solving this dilemma. In the meantime, the city needs to address those 3,000 people, without them living in parks, on school grounds or on sidewalks.

Folks living on the edge – under freeways, on the edge of parks – will be asked to move and given 72 hours to do so, Scarola said, with the offer of a warm place to stay. Camp Second Chance, which moved to the city-owned Myers Way Parcels last July, is currently unsanctioned, but is slated to be one of three new sanctioned homeless encampments within the city. 20 tents are there now; the city says 50 will be added. Rules would apply – it would be a clean and sober community, as its organizers say it is now. People would be allowed to bring partners and pets. Read More

7:11 AM: This is the kind of situation you might encounter on non-arterials:

Kevin Freitas tweeted that photo: “Truck stuck SW 36th Ave, Alaska/Edmunds. They service The Mount & have to back in to their loading dock. Not today.”

7:57 AM: Thanks to Nick for this note, also mentioned in comments: “There’s a jackknifed 56 bus in the middle of Admiral, just before Admiral and California, on the hill down by the green belt.”

9:04 AM: Remember, schools are running late this morning, so you’ll see school buses, walkers, riders in the next hour or so that you usually wouldn’t at this time of day. While the main roads are mostly bare, still snow off the roads. Here’s Junction Plaza Park:

Just in from the Seattle Public Library:

Branch locations of The Seattle Public Library regularly open today, Friday, Dec. 9, will have a delayed start of noon due to the snow. The Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., will open at its 10 a.m. regular time.

8:58 PM: While we’ve had reports of flakes here and there for more than an hour, only now is it starting to get a bit more serious, so we’re launching tonight’s snow coverage to see how long it lasts and what the forecasters have to say.

Generally SPS won’t make a decision until early morning – we will of course be keeping watch for that. In the meantime, you can watch snow in the streetlights on the bridges via the “live video” links from West Seattle at the lower right of the city’s travelers-info map. In The Junction, for example, snow’s sticking on the road – just grabbed this traffic-cam view:

10:25 PM: 911 log has a report of wires down at Fauntleroy/Trenton. You can see emergency lights in this screengrab from the nearest traffic cam:

Not far away, from Tamsen Spengler of the West Seattle Timebank, a pastoral scene northeast of Morgan Junction:

Two years after ceremonial groundbreaking launched construction of The Whittaker – West Seattle’s biggest mixed-use project ever – its first building at 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW is officially open, with a ribboncutting celebration today, including namesake Jim Whittaker, the West Seattle native who made history on Mount Everest. The lobby displays a photo of him on Everest in 1963:

Whittaker’s partner Dianne Roberts told Christopher that they still have the ice axe and flags in the iconic photograph, as well as the camera used to shoot it. She said that the clothes he was wearing in the photo are now on display at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, Colorado.

The ribboncutting marked the fact that residents are moving into the south building this month, and will follow in the north building next spring. Property manager Ashlie Quon of Windsor Communities told WSB’s Christopher Boffoli that the South building has 129 units complete and open, 39 of which are leased so far.

Art for the site was commissioned from West Seattleite Troy Pillow – who also created the new kinetic sculpture in Junction Plaza Park. Some of his work is up outside the south entry:

The lobby sections open today feature sitting areas with gas fireplaces, a “wine room” upstairs with a function area with a small kitchen just off it for events, a mailroom, and a separate package room.

The large, open lobby features reclaimed wood throughout and a suspended Douglas Fir staircase (which leads up to the wine room/function area. That’s where some of today’s speeches took place.

While the residential units are opening, the commercial tenants won’t start to open until next year. So far, as we reported last summer, they include – besides anchor tenant Whole Foods Market, taking the retail space in the north building – BECU, City MD, MOD Pizza, and T-Mobile.

West Seattle Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynn Dennis, among today’s speakers, said, “The Whittaker represents an example of creating density while preserving green spaces and celebrating the real character of West Seattle.” Jim Whittaker spoke too, saying he felt “lucky” to be born in West Seattle and that the new building was marvelous and he was delighted to be on hand for the opening.

Thanks for the tips about a water break at 11th and Barton in Highland Park. We just talked with Andy Ryan from Seattle Public Utilities. He says an eight-inch main is broken; they don’t know yet how the break happened but they first heard about it just after 4 this afternoon. 37 customers are affected. Crews are on the scene, but there’s no estimate of how long it’ll take to get it fixed.

While the Highway 99 tunneling machine hasn’t made much news lately, it’s continuing to dig steadily along, says WSDOT. Their latest twice-weekly update, published this afternoon, says it’s more than two-thirds of the way down the route – 6,337 of 9,270 feet. It’s already gone past the deepest point on the route and is starting to climb back toward the surface, currently in the zone beneath Belltown. The current estimated opening date remains early 2019, and as noted in this tweet, Viaduct demolition would follow over much of the rest of that year.

Nine months after the Southwest Seattle Historical Society launched its campaign to get city-landmark status for two buildings in the heart of The Junction, a hearing date is set for the first one to be considered, the Hamm Building on the northwest corner of California/Alaska, where Easy Street Records is the anchor tenant. Here’s the official announcement from the city today, explaining how you can comment:

Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board will consider nomination of the Crescent-Hamm Building at 4302 SW Alaska Street/4559 California Avenue SW on Wednesday, January 4 at 3:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in Seattle City Hall (600 4th Avenue, Floor L2) in the Boards and Commissions Room L2-80.

The public is invited to attend the meeting and make comments. Written comments should be received by the Landmarks Preservation Board at the following mailing address by 3:00 p.m. on January 3, 2017:

A copy of the Landmark Nomination is available for public review at the West Seattle Branch Library, 2306 42nd Avenue SW (206-684-7444), and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ office in Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Avenue, 4th Floor (206-684-0228). It is also posted on the Department of Neighborhoods website, under the heading of “Current Nominations,” or you can view it here (PDF).

The landmark nominations for the Hamm and Campbell Buildings were officially submitted in September. No date is set yet for consideration of the Campbell Building. Despite its place in West Seattle history, The Junction currently has no city-designated landmarks – the nearest one is the old utility building at Dakota Place Park. You can find a list and map of all city landmarks here, along with more information about the designation process.

The Whale Trail‘s Donna Sandstrom sends early warning that orcas might be swimming southbound off West Seattle before sunset. She reports that Orca Network‘s Kersti Muul reported them off Richmond Beach, and so she’ll be looking northward from Alki starting around 3 pm. Just an early alert since the weather’s good – for now! – and we have about two more hours of light.

That tree on the water side of the Alki Bathhouse isn’t a Christmas tree but rather a memorial tree. Relatives and friends of Joel Eggert(photo at right), the 46-year-old West Seattleite who died after his motorcycle crashed in Highland Park early Sunday, e-mailed to tell us about it. It’s there with Parks Department permission, and, according to Tonia, “People are encouraged to place notes and mementoes to remember Joel.” Stephanie says, “Tomorrow night at 3:30 pm there will be a sunset gathering for him and moment of silence.” And Mr. Eggert’s sister Stacey e-mailed to share the news of the crowdfunding account for his children. She says Mr. Eggert’s last wish is being fulfilled – donating his organs to save others. Plans for an official memorial event are in the works, we’ve also learned, and we’re expecting an update on that soon.

10:59 AM: It’s midmorning and that means the National Weather Service is out with its newest “forecast discussion.” The outlook right now, the NWS says, is for snow tonight, but not for long: “A front will reach the area this evening. With cold air in place, the precipitation will be snow, then turning to rain by daybreak for most areas,” at least an inch before the switch. Read the full outlook here.

7:23 PM: We’re hearing reports of some flake sightings in West Seattle. If and when it starts to get significant, we’ll launch new coverage.

The Gatewood Elementary Winter Book Fair is happening now! All of our students (K-5) have worked very hard in Ms. Rachel’s art class to create beautiful artwork for our winter theme inspired by the book The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski.

The book fair is an important event at Gatewood that promotes literacy and the excitement of reading by bringing in a vast selection of books that kids want to read. Not only does the fair help to inspire a real culture of reading, but it also raises necessary funds to support our library program.

Community members are welcome to come shop at the fair. We accept cash, checks and credit.

Today – Until 4 pm, and again 5:30 pm-7:30 pm.

Friday – 7:15 am to 12:15 pm

(If you’d like to make a donation so that ALL children at Gatewood have the opportunity to purchase a book, you can donate at C & P Coffee and Caffé Ladro.)

UPTON FLATS INFORMATIONAL MEETING: 3:30-4:30 pm at High Point Community Center, the developers of High Point’s future Upton Flats mixed-use project are having an informational meeting for community members with questions. Site work is expected to start soon, according to the notice a resident shared with us. (6920 34th SW)

RAVEN’S NEST WEST GRAND OPENING: As previewed here on Wednesday, tonight is the official grand opening of this new shop and art gallery in The Junction, during WS Art Walk, 6-9 pm. (4557 Glenn Way)

LOW-BRIDGE ALERT: For drivers and riders, this is something of a reverse alert – the low bridge will NOT be opening for marine traffic between approximately 8 am and noon today, because of maintenance that SDOT announced a few weeks ago. They say it will NOT affect vehicle traffic.

7:22 AM: Two lanes have reopened at the scene of the I-5 crash, but WSDOT says one is still blocked and backups are big.

There is a car on my block that has been there for a week or so, and has not moved. The front and back plates have been removed. I suspect it is a stolen vehicle and that someone may be looking for it. I have reported it as an abandoned vehicle. It is in the Gatewood neighborhood, on 37th Ave SW, just to the south of Holden. It is a black, late 90s, early 2000s Volvo wagon with a lot of bumper stickers. The door to the gas tank is also missing. There appears to be some kind of wood shelves in the back.

-Most of the easels with information and space for feedback are devoted to the HALA rezoning – upzoning “urban villages, and commercial/multifamily property everywhere, to give developers/builders added capacity in exchange for requiring them to build part of their projects as “affordable housing” or pay a certain percentage into a city fund for it to be built somewhere else.

-You’ll also find the maps – two sets showing current zoning (the multicolor maps) and proposed upzoning (these maps are mostly green) on tables.

-At the SDOT/SDCI station, there’s an easel with information about the potential parking-policy changes, and lots of informational sheets about other projects/initiatives – Fauntleroy Boulevard (as previewed), Residential Parking Zone policy changes, West Seattle Greenway (the next “greenway” in our area, with the route yet to be finalized), RapidRide expansion (Delridge, in a few years). Also you can learn about the Department of Construction and Inspections and how you might interact with it even if you’re not a builder (they handle noise complaints, for example).

Lots of conversation under way here in the Youngstown Theater. And a big table with snacks. This is on at both locations until 7:30 pm.

6:04 PM: First report from our crew at Shelby’s – it’s swamped.

(It was originally the only location for this event, though community advocates had warned the city that more room would be needed.) At both locations, you can write your feedback on the HALA rezoning proposals (which also is being accepted via e-mail at halainfo@seattle.gov and the special site hala.consider.it).

At Youngstown, we’ve seen some early feedback too.

More to come. Again, the city promised that what’s available to ask about and comment on is identical at both locations.

6:25 PM: Just talked to Andra Kranzler from Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office, who is at Youngstown to see how it’s going. Steady stream here, and a continued crowd at Shelby’s in The Junction:

6:54 PM: The buzz of conversation goes on here at Youngstown – and more feedback has appeared on easels:

We listened in as some attendees talked about the Westwood-Highland Park Urban Village map. Some wondered how the future potential annexation of White Center might play into decisions made now.

While SDOT had said the Fauntleroy Boulevard project – recently “re-initiated” – would be featured, we found only an info-sheet. No model, map, or other detailed display.

At Shelby’s, the rezoning maps were on display in booths – like the one where we found Eric Iwamoto, co-chair of the Southwest District Council (which had to cancel its meeting, when the city decided to schedule this on the same night):

We’re headed back over there to see how this wraps up.

7:34 PM: We’ve asked city reps for an attendance count here at Shelby’s – where in the early going it was jampacked, and dozens are still here now.

City reps say they won’t be able to put the count together until tomorrow. Meantime, though the official end time has passed, conversations and comments continue:

7:45 PM: We’re in the Parks/Greenways room at Shelby’s. One line item notes that a 34th SW greenway will connect people to Walt Hundley Playfield in 2017, with “bike ramps/bike racks (to) conect to existing paths and High Point Community Center.” Looks like this is close to a wrap, so we’re leaving and will be following up tomorrow.

The potential for snow Thursday night into Friday has lessened a little since the National Weather Serviceissued the alert. As of this afternoon, the alert level has been reduced to Winter Weather Advisory, in effect 4 pm Thursday to 8 am Friday:

A WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE FROM SOUTH TO NORTH THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON THURSDAY NIGHT. WITH COLD AIR IN PLACE SNOW WILL FALL AND SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 3 INCHES IS EXPECTED ACROSS MOST OF THE LOWLANDS. THE SNOW SHOULD CHANGE TO RAIN BEFORE DAYBREAK FRIDAY.

Meeting last night at the Sisson Building/Senior Center, the Junction Neighborhood Organization also was looking ahead to tonight’s city-organized “open house” about topics from housing to roads to parks to parking – though it had two other major topics.

First:

REZONING ACTION PLAN: On the eve of the city’s big “open house,” JuNO director René Commons talked about community concerns, especially about how poorly the city had been communicating about the rezoning that is part of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda‘s Mandatory Housing Affordability component. The area is just now feeling the effects of changes in the late ’90s, she noted, with major projects. So input means more now than ever.

“This is a draft proposal… and activism matters,” said Commons. “It’s about not being angry, but about being passionate – to make change, good change.”

One attendee brought up that “this is not the only upzone we’ll be dealing with – Sound Transit 3 will put two elevated stations in our area, and these stations are big, and each one comes with a ‘station overlay,’ to ensure that there’s adequate density around the stations, to make them more viable… (but) people working on HALA are not necessarily talking to the people working on ST3.” For one, he said, the area should have options – “at least two materially different proposals” – for how to accommodate growth, not just the “blanket approach that every urban village should be treated the same way.”

Another attendee talked about finally hearing about the proposed upzoning in late October from coverage on WSB – “oh, that’s my street!” She tried to find out if she had missed some outreach that would have helped her understand; no, she hadn’t. Even the city’s title “Mandatory Housing Affordability” was not conducive to helping people understand about rezoning – “it sounded like somebody’s finally doing something about the rising rents, and that’s not it at all.”

So what kind of feedback should JuNO offer, tonight and beyond? Read More

A 16-year-old boy is recovering at home after being shot in West Seattle, and his father is asking for help in the investigation.

It happened around 1 am Sunday near 34th SW and SW Trenton [map]. We didn’t hear about it until the victim’s father contacted us last night. There was no “assault with weapons” medical callout because friends drove the victim to the hospital. The police report we obtained today says that several people called 911 to report suspected gunfire; police found no victim, no shell casings, no blood. Then, about half an hour later, the investigating officer found out that a person with a shoulder wound had shown up at Harborview Medical Center, saying he had been shot at a party in West Seattle. The person whose house was the scene of the party told SPD he didn’t know anything about a shooting. The officer looked a second time and still found no physical evidence of a shooting in the area.

The victim’s father tells WSB that his son is believed to have been shot by someone who pulled up in a vehicle outside the party, opened fire, and left. No description information. The Gang Unit is following up, according to both the police report and the victim’s father, who says his son is not involved with gangs but the shooter is believed to be. If you have any information about the shooting, contact SPD and refer to case 2016-435767. (Anonymous tips can be sent this way.)